Brake.



No. 894,129. l PATENTED JULY 21, 1908.

H. H. FOX.

BRAKE. APPLICATION FILED NOV. 26, 1907. Y

' 2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

PATENTBD JULY 21; 1908.

H. H. FOX.

BRAKE.

APPLICATION FILED Nov. 26, 1907.

z SHEETS-SHEET 2.

HNEY

UNITED STATESk YPATENT OFFICE.

HERBERT E. FOX, oE eAssADAeA, NEW YORK,

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, HERBERT H. Fox, a citizen of the United States,residing at Cassadaga, in the county ofChautauqua and State of N ewYork, have invented new and useful Improvements in Brakes, of which thefol lowing is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in vehicle brakes, and consistsin the construction, combination and arrangement of devices hereinafterdescribed and claimed.

One object of my invention is to provide a spring-acting brake beamelement which carries thev brake shoes and serves to normally keep themout of engagement with the wheels.

A further object is to combine with the spring-acting brake shoecarrying element improved means to operate the same to ap ply the brakeshoes to the Wheels.

A further object is to effect improvements in the construction of thebrake shoes to prevent mud from clogging on the wheels and between themand the brake shoes.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a vertical longitudinalsectional view of a portion of a vehicle provided with my improved brakeapparatus. Fig. 2 is a bottom plan view of the same. Fig. 3 is avertical transverse sectional view of the same taken on the planeindicated by the line 3 3 of Fig 1. Fig. 4 is a detail perspective viewof the primary lever, the secondary levers and their connections. Fig. 5is a detail transverse sectional view taken on the plane indicated bythe line 5-5 of Fig. 1. Fig. 6 is a det-ail sectional view of one of thebrake shoes.

In accordance with my invention, I provide a spring-acting brake beam 1which is fixed and supported by any suitable means or in any suitablemanner and is here shown as secured by clips 2 on the reach bars 3, therear portions of which are secured to the under side of the rear aXle 4by clips 5. The spring acting brake beam is normally straight andnormally keeps the brake shoes 6, which are attached to the endsthereof, out of contact with and a slight distance from the wheels 7.Each shoe has a curve spring plate 6l at its upper side to bear againstand scrape the wheel when the shoe is applied. I would have itunderstood that the springacting brake beam may be mounted by anysuitable means and I do not desire to limit myself in this particular'.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed. November 26, 1907.

Patented July 21, 1908.

Serial No. 403,928.

A primary lever 8 is suitably mounted,

and is here shown as disposed transversely under the vehicle box or bed9 and is pivotally connected at one end thereto, as at 10. A pair ofsecondary brake levers 11 are also suitably mounted. They are here shownas fulcrumed as at 12 to clips 13 which are secured on the aXle 4 andare provided with bracket arms 14. The shorter ends of the saidsecondary levers are connected by links 15 to the spring-acting brakebeam at points near the ends thereof and each of the said links includesan adjusting device for varyn ing its length, such adjusting devicesbeing here shown as turn-buckles 16. An equalizing link device 17, whichis here shown as substantially triangular in form, is connected at itsfront end to the primary brake lever 8 by means of a pair of link plates18 which are bolted on the upper and lower sides of said lever 8 andbetween which the said equalizing link device is pivoted, as at 19. Theinner longer arms of the secondary brake levers 11 are connected to thesaid equalizing link device near the rear corners of the latter by linkrods 20 or other suitable connections.

Then the spring-acting brake beam is straight, with the brake shoesreleased from the wheels 7, the primary and secondary brake levers areparallel or substantially so, and are disposed at right angles to thevehicle bed or body as shown in Fig. 2. It will be understood that bymoving the front end of the primary brake lever forwardly so as to causethe inner ends of the secondary brake levers to be also moved forwardly,the outer ends of said secondary brake levers will move rearwardly andbeing connected to the outer portions of the spring-acting brake beam bythe means herein lbefore described will cause the ends of suchspring-acting brake beam to be moved rearwardly so as to apply the brakeshoes to the wheels. The tendency of the spring-acting brake beam todispose itself in a right line causes the same as soon as the leverscease to operate to move the brake shoes out of contact with the wheel.

Within the scope of my invention any means, broadly, may be employed tooperate the primary brake lever, but I have here shown the preferredbrake lever operating means which I will now describe.

A slide 21 is mounted for longitudinal movement on the upper side of thebottom of the boX or body near one side and near the front end thereofand is provided with an upwardly extending arm 22 to enable the driverby the use of one foot to readily move said slide forwardly. Anysuitable means may be employed to mount the slide so that the latter maybe moved longitudinally and I do not limit myself in this particular.The said f slide is provided at its front end with a opening indicatedat 27 in the bottom of the vehicle bed or body.

It will be understood from the foregoing that the said lever 8 may beoperated to apply the brakes by moving the slide 2l forwardly and thatthe stop 24 serves to lock said slide in such position so as to keep thebrake shoes applied to the wheels until the stop is disengaged from theslide.

Having thus described the invention, what I claim as new is A brakeapparatus ofthe class described comprising a spring bar having brakeshoes at its ends, said spring bar having its central portion fixed andits end portions free to enable such end portions by their own springaction to hold the brake shoes in disengaged position, a primary lever,an equalizing de- .vice pivotally connected thereto and extendingrearwardly therefrom, a pair of secondary levers, connecting devicesattached to the secondary levers and also to the equalizing device atthe rear corners of the latter at a point in rear of the pivotalconnection be tween said equalizing device and the primary lever andmeans connecting said secondary lever to the spring acting brake bar atpoints near the ends thereof.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

HERBERT H. FOX.

Witnesses:

EMRY P. CRANDALL, HERMAN S. GnIswoLD.

